A US Navy (USN) F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft with the VFA-115 "Talons" launches off the deck of the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) aircraft carrier. Currently the ship and its crew are participating in the joint military Exercise Northern Edge 2004, in the Gulf of Alaska

Aircraft carriers are warships that act as airbases for carrier-based aircraft. In the United States Navy, these consist of ships commissioned with hull classification symbols CV (aircraft carrier), CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (light aircraft carrier), CVN (aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion) and CVAN (attack aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion). The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the United States Navy was USS Langley (CV-1) on 20 March 1922.